Berlin, Berlin, Germany
'''Berlin '''is the capital and biggest city in Germany and dates back to 1192. The current mayor is Michael Müller since Decmebr 11, 2014. Berlin currently has a population of 3,426,000. It is surrounded by the Brandenburg state of Germany, and is the largest city in west-central Europe. Geography Berlin's terrain is mostly flat, with the occasional hill, mostly near the Brandenburg border. The city was build on a swampy forest, and has many lakes, bogs, rivers, and other waterways. A lot of plateaus stretch across the central and western parts of Berlin, most notably the Teltow and Barnim. Architecture Compared to the rest of Germany, the history of architecture began relatively late in Berlin (and Brandenburg) and is strongly related to the rise of Prussia since the 17th century, whose capital was Berlin. In this century, Berlin has been the center of German architecture, and as no other German city has better reflected the ups and downs of German history such as the country's division, and the great contradictions and ruptures that have contributed to its architectural development. Climate Berlin is one of the warmest regions in Germany with an average daily high temperature of 14 degrees centigrade. The climate is much more unsettled than in central Europe and offers varied seasons with deep winters and warm summers. Due to the warmer temperatures the best time for traveling is from May to September. Nearly unattractive for tourists are the cold months from November to March. History What was to become Berlin was well outside the frontiers of the Roman Empire, and was inhabited by Germanic tribes. About 720 C.E., two Slavic tribes settled in the Berlin region—The Hevelli settled on the river Havel in Brandenburg, while the Sprevane settled close to the river Spree in today's district of Berlin-Köpenick. About 750, The Hevelli founded Spandow (now Spandau). In the early ninth century, "Berolina" was the name recorded in a Latin document of a small town in the region surrounded with a stockade, on a trade route linking southern Europe with the Baltic Sea. In 948, Emperor Otto I the Great established German control over the now largely Slavic inhabitants of the area and founded the dioceses of Havelberg, and Brandenburg. Migration Period The Thirty Years' War, between 1618 and 1648, resulted in damage to one third of Berlin's houses, and the loss of half the city's population. Frederick William, known as the “Great Elector,” who had succeeded his father in 1640, promoted immigration and religious tolerance. With the Edict of Potsdam in 1685, Frederick William offered asylum to the French Huguenots. More than 15,000 Huguenots went to Brandenburg, of whom 6,000 settled in Berlin. By 1700, approximately 20 percent of Berlin's residents were French. Many other immigrants came from Bohemia, Poland, and Salzburg. Industrial Boom The Industrial Revolution transformed Berlin during the nineteenth century; the city's economy and population expanded dramatically, and it became the main rail hub and economic center of Germany. Additional suburbs soon developed. In 1861, outlying suburbs including Wedding, Moabit, and several others were incorporated. In 1871, Berlin became capital of the newly founded German Empire. World Wars At the end of World War I in 1918, the Weimar Republic was proclaimed. In 1920, the Greater Berlin Act united dozens of suburban cities, villages, and estates into a greatly expanded city and established Berlin as a separate administrative region. Berlin, then with a population of around four million, was an exciting city known for a liberal subculture, including homosexuals and prostitution, and for its fierce political street fights. Following the 1933 elections, Adolf Hitler and the Nazi Party came to power. Nazi rule destroyed Berlin's Jewish community, which numbered 170,000 before the Nazis came to power. After the pogrom of Kristallnacht in 1938, thousands of the city's German Jews were imprisoned in the nearby Sachsenhausen concentration camp or, in early 1943, were shipped to death camps, such as Auschwitz. Hitler had planned to rebuild Berlin on a massive scale, renaming it "Welthauptstadt Germania"; but apart from the Olympic Stadium, the plan never progressed. Large parts of Berlin were destroyed in the 1943–1945 air raids and during the Battle of Berlin. After the end of World War II in 1945, Berlin received large numbers of refugees from the Eastern provinces. The victorious powers divided the city into four sectors—the United States, the United Kingdom, and France formed West Berlin, while the Soviet sector formed East Berlin. Initially, all four Allies retained shared responsibility for the city. However, the growing political differences between the Western Allies and the Soviet Union led the latter, which controlled the territory surrounding Berlin, to impose an economic blockade of West Berlin. The Allies countered the blockade by airlifting food, fuel, and other supplies, at an increasing rate of up to 5500 tons per day, into the city from June 24, 1948, to May 11, 1949, when the Federal Republic of Germany was founded in West Germany, consisting of the American, British and French zones. Meanwhile, the Marxist-Leninist German Democratic Republic was proclaimed in East Germany. West Berlin remained a free city that was separate from the Federal Republic of Germany. Communism and Modern Day West Berlin was surrounded by East German territory. East Germany proclaimed East Berlin (which it described only as "Berlin") as its capital, a move not recognized by the Western powers. Although half the size and population of West Berlin, it included most of the historic center of the city. The Cold War tensions between east and west culminated in the construction of the Berlin Wall between East and West Berlin and other barriers around West Berlin by East Germany on August 13, 1961, and were exacerbated by a tank stand-off at Checkpoint Charlie on October 27, 1961. West Berlin became a de facto part of West Germany with a unique legal status, while East Berlin was de facto a part of East Germany. It was possible for Westerners to pass from one section to the other only through strictly controlled checkpoints. For most Easterners, travel to West Berlin or West Germany was no longer possible. In 1971, a Four-Power agreement guaranteed access across East Germany to West Berlin and ended the potential for harassment or closure of the routes. In 1989, pressure from the East German population brought a transition to a market-based economy in East Germany, and its citizens gained access across the Berlin Wall on November 9, 1989, which was subsequently mostly demolished. Only a portion of the Wall remains; the East Side Gallery in Friedrichshain near the Oberbaumbrücke over the Spree. On October 3, 1990, the two parts of Germany were reunified as the Federal Republic of Germany, and Berlin became the German capital. In 1999, the German parliament and government began their work in Berlin. 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